Naruto's Orphanage
by Rei Uta
Summary: Team 7 are at an orphanage on one of their rest days. The reason? Naruto! Why? I don't know! :D
1. Getting There

This is it! Naruto's Orphanage! Please enjoy Chapter 1: Getting There!

 **Summary** : Team 7 are at an orphanage on one of their rest days. The reason? Naruto! Why? I don't know! :D

 **Warnings** : This is going to be updated really, really, sllooowwwwwlllllyyyy. And when I say slow, I mean slower than a snail slow, (and definitely slower than your grandma can drive slow) because juggling two fictions (actually several really) is much too much for incompetence like me to bear. So get out your sleeping bags and prepare for a long wait if you get hooked.

 **Disclaimer** : If I own Naruto, his current canon kids won't exist. (If they did, they'd at least get better names, because seriously. Boruto!? What kinda hecka ugly name is that?! I want to pull all my hair out in sheer frustration every time I think about it!)

 **Rating** : 'T' language wise, but maybe an 'M' for thought process. Hur hur.

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'Naruto is late... Why the hell is he late? That's Kakashi sensei's role and the lazy bastard is still doing an unfortunately remarkable job at it.. And what's worse, Sasuke isn't here either. How the hell can I scold them if even _he_ is late?! Goddammit! These people have no respect for the only girl on their team! None I tell you! Nix! Nada! Niente! Why did I agree to this in the first place?! I'm a girl! How am I not resistant to Naruto's puppy dog eyes?! It's Naruto dammit!

I swear... When I get my hands on those lazy bastards... I'll do XXX and YYY to them and when I'm done, I'll ZZZ them... Let's see if they ever dare to pull this shit on me again...'

A certain silver haired scarecrow teacher sat on his lovely tree branch with his trademark orange ' _educational material_ ' flipped open to a random page, casually averting his eyes away from the scene that was Inner Sakura having a field day out in the toasty warm sunshine of sunny Konoha, raising a rather formidable dust cloud with her constant pacing about.

Yes, sure he could have made her feel a little less annoyed and fatally irritated by showing up before the two boys, but... Well gee. He had good, working eyes, and he could see the growing aura of doom and malice surrounding that petite frame. So like hell he was going to go down there without the usual punching ba- err, substitutes!- to bear the brunt of the violent Kunoichi's anger, especially not while he could hear a creepy "Ku ku ku..." sound that was everything foreboding and vindictive.

About a minute before he calculated Sakura's special effect would have broken the previous record of animosity set during that **one** **time** he was _slightly_ late on taking the brats to their first ever beach trip, the sound of familiar footsteps and voices raised in some new argument reaches his ears and lazy grey eyes glance up to see his precious students -cough meat shields cough- walk into view. Kakashi snorts quietly (let's not get heard now while Sakura is still in rampage mode) and returns to the printed words.

Two loud thuds and twin yelps of pain (one softer than the other) later, he finally holds up his fingers to active the body flicker technique and appears before his chunins with a puff of smoke and a half moon grin.

"Hi kids, I got late helping a poor old granny cross the road~"

There are no kunai or shuriken thrown at him this time, (no reaction even to the terribad excuse) so he opens an eye to admire the new heads Sakura has given both boys. (Naruto is hunched over on the ground like always, clutching at the swollen bump while Sasuke bears his pain with a little more dignity, staying on his feet and barely refraining from touching the equally large hump protruding from the middle of his duck butt do.) The girl stands behind them, grimly satisfied, if the warning glint in those evil green eyes weren't clues enough.

She clasps her hands together a minute later, fingers lacing as she beams at them so widely her eyes shut. If one didn't know about the existence of Inner Sakura within her, or the fact that she was a capable chunin with fists of steel and a growing talent for medical work, one might have even suspected her of being a regular civilian girl, so sweet did she appear in her pink off-shoulder top and black shorts.

"Since we're all here now, shall we get moving?" She sing songs as Sasuke helps their guide up into a standing position despite the still prominent swelling that is ruining the taller boy's otherwise cool exterior. Dark colors really seemed to suit the self-proclaimed avenger, whose pale skin made for a brilliant contrast with his simple navy shirt and black jeans. (Uchiha clan symbol still making a small appearance on the boy's left breast pocket.)

Naruto accepts the hand that hauls him back on his feet, his own still vigorously rubbing at the magnificent hump that spans a perfect 3 inches in diameter across a quarter of his head. He hides a grumble at the rough handling, dusts off the burnt orange shirt with a center swirl and hoists his backpack up, cradling it to his side like he's hugging a precious child. "Yes, yes."

Uzumaki leads them into the vast forestry surrounding their home, taking the dirt path with his civilian sandals kicking up dust behind. (The amount of which increases when Sakura accuses him of dirtying her with his dislodged clouds and chases after in an almost impressively, murderous rage.)

Sasuke snorts, seeing no reason to save the boy because Sakura is just 'having fun' in her own way and he has learnt by now that if he does disturbs their little 'game', he is going to get pulled into it. So, heck no. It's a rest day, a long overdue vacation, and even he has his lazy days when he doesn't feel like running. Thus, the somehow still pale boy stays right where he is, several paces away from their perverted teacher who somehow sees reason to continue wearing his uniform even though they are only going on an excursion of sorts to some place a stone's throw away from Konoha according to the wishes of their blond teammate.

(Sasuke hates himself after his 'unconscious-from-extreme-feelings-of-today-I-don't-feel-like-doing-anything~' brain strays down a really weird and traumatizing rabbit hole while on the road of 'Does Sensei even have other clothes?' and gawd! Foul mental imagery of naked Kakashi be gone! UGHH!

If Kakashi doesn't understand why the dark haired preteen shoots him a look caught between 'oh-dear-god-please-kill-me-now' and 'you-are-one-sick-sick-bastard-and-I-will-maim-you-the-moment-I-don't-feel-like-puking-while-looking-at-you' out of the corner of stiff black silts before deliberately increasing his pace, such that he almost gets caught between Naruto and (mainly) Sakura's ' _therapy session_ ', it's too bad, because Sasuke sure as hell ain't never telling him. Like. Ever.

The kid is in a really bad place now. The Sharingan had effectively sealed that horror story right into his long term memory banks, along with the rest of his jutsus and obligations and rants and grocery lists of tomatoes. When he tries to pull his mind off it by admiring the rich abundance of green and brown around them, he is instantly body slammed by an even more retina burning picture of Team Gai's teacher. In a tight pair of green speedos. That (unfortunately) left nothing to the imagination. Caught up in a passionate, manly contest of something. With Kakashi. Who. Was. **Naked**.

If life was an anime, Sasuke's eyes would be bleeding from the heavy internal damage dealt by his stupid, twat of a brain.

Sasuke would like a new one who wasn't so rebellious.

Does anyone want to trade?

How about a donation?

Anyone?

He'll even throw in a free bowl of tomato salad!

Anyone...?)

* * *

'A stone's throw away huh? The boy was certainly accurate, assuming said stone was flung by either Sakura at full strength or Tsunade at a third.' Kakashi glanced about discreetly over the top of his Naruto colored book, distantly uneasy for somehow not recognizing this part of the woods despite having trained in Konoha forest long enough to have a fairly reliable mind-map of the place.

They'd taken to the trees somewhere along the way after Sakura had finally worn out her explosive emotions, and the speed at which they bounced off branches or pushed off from sturdy trunks sent the wind combing through their hair in a very pleasant contrast to the inherent humidity that weighed down both their clothes and spirits when combined with the relentless power of the morning sun (only sure to get worse as the day progressed).

Although they'd been heading generally north up till now, Naruto had begun to steadily tilt to the right at an almost unnoticeable rate of ten degrees thereabouts every five bounds. Kakashi calculated that by now, Team 7 could more accurately be said to be moving north-east of Konoha forest, but where exactly?

Then, a whisper of almost foreign chakra catches his attention, so slight that he almost misses it and had to focus a bit to grasp it back, for the somewhat familiar, feather light impression seemed to dance about, as if it were alive and teasing him. Caught against his own, it bears a dream like quality suggestive of a genjutsu and also the sturdier hint of a barrier jutsu, both feelings so strong that the more hypnotic and veil thin sensation of a hidden message seal is almost ignored as it slides silky soft over his senses.

' _Ignore, move on, there's nothing to see here.'_ The compelling command is spoken to his heart, but now that he knows of it, the effect of is diminished. It is now more of a clue and guide to the secret it protects, rather than the protection he can feel it is designed to be. It makes him fairly curious to know what's on the other end of the line, because the entire set up seems deceivingly simple though it is anything but and he would have poofed away from the kids for a moment to investigate this interesting anomaly if he hadn't noticed how Naruto seems to be following the invisible thread himself, though his teammates appeared to have been unable to realize there was anything wrong there.

This odd occurrence, feeling that there was something Naruto knew that the team didn't, is what makes him stick on path, because hey, Naruto seems to be leading them right towards the big secret anyway. No need to get ahead of himself here.

As they say, good things come to those who wait.

* * *

Sakura would like to pretend that she was bothered by the seemingly long journey, but she really wasn't. It was only typical after all, that everyone had to travel like, a kilometer minimally (if they were lucky) just to get to any residences or business establishments outside of a hidden village, particularly if the community wasn't full of shinobi, because who would want to build a home near a place that could and would potentially blow up in the face of chakra backlash from failed jutsus or really powerful ones, or to get in the way of people training with sharp and dangerous knives and swords and throwing stars like they were mere toys and everyday instruments?

That was just suicidal and stupid. Utterly, utterly stupid.

(If the medical bills alone aren't bad enough, what about the cost of rebuilding and refurnishing your home? Ouch!)

Still... Her teammate's path was starting to bother her.

No, it wasn't the choice of route, they loved bouncing on trees as much as the next shinobi did.

It ain't the direction either, because she had no idea where the hell they were heading to so one way was as good as the next to her.

Yes, it was the increasingly foreboding sensation of being watched, of going where she was not wanted that made her hesitate a nanosecond longer on every branch before pushing off again.

Weren't they supposed to be on vacation? That usually entailed a lack of fighting or regular ninja-esque challenges. It also meant no entry into dangerous places that made her whole body twitchy with repressed anxiety. Just where was he taking them?

She almost jumps out of her skin when she feels the pleasant afternoon wind chill of Naruto's chakra settling around her like an airy shawl, somehow there yet not quite at the same time and suddenly, there's relief and comfort taking the place of growing apprehension in her, a whispered chant of ' _safe, warm, everything is going to be okay'_ now enshrouding her.

'It's nice.' She thinks and her lips curve into a relaxed smile. 'That's right, Naruto's here. He's guiding us. He won't ever let us get hurt. It's okay. I can always trust him.'

Then Naruto leaves the air route in favor of hopping down onto a patch of land that bears no differences to any of the other areas they've passed by on the way to wherever they were supposed to be heading to and Inner Sakura goes 'where the hell are we? Is Naruto lost?!'

Regardless, the rest of Team 7 drop down beside him and stare in curiosity as he grins, tugging at the straps around his shoulders. "Come on, it's only a few more steps in front now." He points ahead with a still smooth finger that Sakura envies as much as she wonders at because they are ninjas. Callouses and scars are only natural in a line of work that forces one to deal with weaponry and chakra. Naruto practices as much and as hard as the next chunin, she knows this for a fact, but somehow managed to still keep his pretty, pretty fingers. How?!

Accurately enough, even though where Naruto had been pointing at just appeared to be another clump of trees, more thickly growing and clustered then the rest, when they emerged from the small-ish tunnel, the team now found themselves standing in what appeared to be a large clearing, with a rather run down building two stories tall and several rooms wide positioned almost in the center. Curiously enough, a brilliant patch of summer blue spread out above, although everyone could have sworn that the trees there were so densely grown that they'd covered the skies like giant green roofs.

"Naruto, where are we?"

The boy only looked to her with those distractingly clear sapphires, smiled a little smile and turned back to the scenery.

"Come on, we have to go pay our respects to the owner!"

He bounces away as energetic as you'd please, bee lining for the once bright front door of the structure and raps on the weather worn maroon with a familiar hand. "Hey! I'm back!"

Hanging back, his teammates watch as there is a bright yelp, followed by some excited chattering sounds and thumps of feet against wooden boards. The door swings outwards with great force and somehow misses the boy in orange and black, who is now laughing happily as he is surrounded by three kids, who wear mismatched clothes, hair that has given up pretending to be stylish and grins no less delighted than their target.

'They're probably no older than six or seven,' Sakura gauges from their height, all roughly shorter even than Konohamaru. 'Orphans,' she thinks, because all of them have startlingly different features and look just this side of thin despite being obviously cared for. Plus, it's hard to not be able to tell apart traditional Konoha clan colouring from everywhere else. No one in Konoha had naturally blue hair, or red for that matter.

As if drawn by the sounds, a new figure makes an appearance in the doorway. A woman, adult angular face and willowy frame almost shadowed by the crazy shock of frizzy ruby red curls she wears. Curls! No one she'd seen had ever worn curls in their hair!

(Sakura gapes unashamedly at the untamed locks, Kakashi stares from behind his pervy book and even Sasuke is interested despite his feigned indifference.

"Rude." The new arrival chimes, laughing a laugh that's almost husky and insanely appealing in a wood smoke kind of way. Out of the trio, Kakashi is the only one who doesn't have the decency to blush or be ashamed.)

"Tarimuki~" Naruto chirps, caught between three small bodies who cling to his hands and tug at his shirt, all vying for attention from the kid friendly bolt of sunshine.

"Naru-kun. Did you bring what I asked for?" She smiles with her eyes, twin pools of beautiful honey brown in a healthily slender face. The boy nods, pacifies the little rascals around him and lets two of them ('maybe twins' Sakura judges from their similarly too dark skin and wide black eyes) handle the knapsack he'd protected like it was invaluable on the way there. The duo receives the bag with twin grunts of effort but manage to cover a short distance inside the structure where she assumes a table would be, with the runt of the lot chasing after and babbling in excited, incomprehensible something.

The woman ('named Tarimuki... Who the hell would call their child that?! It doesn't make any sense!' rude Inner Sakura complains) waits until the little scamps from before rushes back outside with beaming exultations of "he did it!" before she next acknowledges the existence of Naruto's teammates. "Kids, shall we be good hosts and bring Naru-nii and his friends inside?"

There are cries of "yeah!" and "uh huh!" and a suspiciously small "but I dun wanna leave Nar-nii..." as the children attach themselves to the guests. (Or at least they tried. Sasuke Uchiha was too much of a bastard for the little blue haired child to lead. The poor boy attempted to grab on to the older boy's pale hand and lead him inwards, but was too intimidated by the cold stare steadily leveled at him and so, just ran off ahead with a strange poker face.

Sasuke got glared at by Naruto for that and would later be dragged off for an unwanted lecture on how to not be so much of a bastard to innocent little children who were only trying to be nice to his undeserving, bastardly ass.

If he showed improvement in temperament and behavior afterwards, it's mostly because he is a gentleman and not because Naruto the chef (shocker that) just threatened to leave out all traces of tomatoes in his meals. No, it's because Sasuke is a man and that means that he is man enough (and smart enough) to admit that Naruto had just laid out a very effective trap for him, because:

1\. He is too polite and dignified (and proud) to steal the tomatoes.

2\. He is too lazy to 'poof' back to Konoha just for some tasty tomatoes.

3\. He likes tomatoes. A lot.

So yes, Sasuke Uchiha is man enough to admit that if he wanted to have his favorites on his plate, he'd have to play nice with the brats because Naruto Uzumaki had very easily targeted all his weak spots.

Damn dobe...)


	2. Getting Warmer

Title: Getting Warmer!

Thank you for all the attention guys! :D I'm so glad you like this! (Special thanks to the ones who've followed me here from the original Orphans hur hur.)

Does anyone mentally sing out the 'today-I-don't-feel-like-doing-anything~' part from before like I do? :P

Also, Sasuke would like everyone to know that they are total jerks for not donating even with free tomato salad as incentive. (Like seriously, why not?)

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'I am a ninja. I am a shinobi.

I am an assassin. I am a killer.

I am a protector. I am a guardian.

I am the darkness that people watch out for.

I am the shadow that guards their homes.

I am a weapon. I am a tool.

I am, so that they may be.

And last I checked, **this** was for genins.'

 **This** , being the current chore of wiping the creaky wooden floors with a wet cloth. Teamed with two out of three of the chibis from earlier, (one of them being the blue haired kid on the receiving end of one of Sasuke's 'I-Am-A-Stuck-Up-Bastard-With-A-Stick-So-Far-Up-My-Ass-That-The-Only-Look-I-Can-Give-Is-This-Constantly-Irritated-And-Constipated-One' glares earlier) Sakura scrubbed in a half-hearted daze, still wondering how **this** became Naruto's idea of a great way to spend their precious vacation time.

 **This** , being their transformation from honourable Konoha chunins already capable of handling most B rank missions to not at all honourable handymen, (handy boys and girl really, because all three of them were still struggling with their transition from kids to teens and Kakashi certainly wasn't helping at all. Damn him...) in charge of scrubbing floors, dusting walls, wiping furniture, doing laundry, gardening and fixing whatever problems Tarimuki (bless her dear sadistic heart) thought of.

Exactly how much work did these people put off till now?! She eyed the floor now with mild disdain and confusion because it certainly looked very clean to her, and felt that way as well. What was she supposed to clean off them? Laziness?

Rising to sit on her haunches, Sakura observed the none too tiny room she'd been assigned to, watching as one of the kids wiped down the low table with tiny, grubby hands which (she was sure) were getting the wood dirtier than it had initially been and the other sung a cheerful, off tune rendition of 'Ten Little Kunais' while scrubbing at something bright green on a wooden chest. A chest whose cover already bore a rather ugly scrawl of orange and black crayons in what she supposed could resemble a fox. That would have been fine and dandy and all, if she hadn't happened to notice that the eager little song bird was using an eraser for the job. Really? An eraser?! WHAT ARE THESE KIDS DOING?!

(She holds back a scream without much difficulty and the two runts with her would never know how all _pink big sister's cool ninja training and experiences_ had saved their eardrums from certain annihilation that day.)

Trying for patience, Sakura pulled out a voice only slightly less sickly sweet then the ones she used on annoying Fire Ladies and their stupid runaway cats. "What are you kiddies doing?"

The boy with blue hair and mild trauma of dark blue emo ducks snickered a little, "I'm wiping the table!" he announced in a still chirpy voice dripping with amusement. (It sounded like he thought she was slightly dim, which pissed her off _a little_ and made her wonder how soon could she reintroduce him to the infamous Uchiha 'Death Glare'.)

The tinier one whose gender she couldn't pinpoint with a hundred percent certainty giggled, finally stopping the infernal song (whose charm was lost after the sixth repeat). "Miki!" She(?) waved her eraser hand triumphantly at Sakura, "Miki wipe! Aho-ku wipe!"

Before we go on to coo at the butchered communications, let's have a little description so Sakura's pain can be appreciated.

Little Miki, the runt of the lot, boosted choppy dark brown hair shorn close to her(?) scalp. Currently mussed and messy, it seemed more like a boy's hairstyle, and the overlarge, plain green shirt and shorts did nothing to change the impression. His(?) lightly tanned skin only contributed to a picture of health and healthy curiosity for the outside world. But the deep night eyes that sparkled at her from a face still plump with baby fat were set in large rounds, lending an air of femininity to the soft features, as did the tiny mouth spread in a wide grin designed by genetics to melt hearts all around. In the first place, the most telling of features, the lilt of her(?) very young voice, which read as female. Not to mention... 'Miki' sounded too girly to be a guy's name... Right...? (Holy crap is Miki going to be the next Haku? The idea of it... No, just no. Haku was pretty enough that real girls were jealous of him, the cad!)

Aoi, on the other hand, owned blue hair the likes of which she'd never seen before, and wore it as short as Miki did. (Which hinted at their falling prey to the same hairdresser.) Slightly taller than the other by a scant inch or so, he wore his extra with some form of childish pride she'd forgotten how to understand a long time ago and demonstrated it with the slight cockiness of mannerism that had possibly ticked Sasuke off in the first place. His purple shirt hung only slightly less on his frame then it would have on Miki. After all, he was no less a child then she(?) was.

Still! Since Aoi could only, clearly be a boy (one with mischievous black eyes and a face shape similar to the redhead kid Naruto had claimed possession of earlier), why couldn't Miki have been easier to figure out?!

* * *

Water sloshed on the floor with sickening slip slop sounds as Sasuke dumped his mop (but let's be honest guys, is a stick with a couple of hairs at the end considered a mop? These guys are in serious need for an upgrade.) none too gently into the bucket, scowling down at the spilling suds. (Perfect. Just perfect. More water then was actually needed kept spilling out. At the rate he was going, those floors are going to become all moldy and gross long before they even thought of drying off.)

Grumbling under his breath about the indecency of the second last Uchiha cleaning up after a couple of brats (for free no less), he was only reminded of the presence of one of the aforementioned brats by the sharp knock of hardcover against shelf.

That would be the possible twin of the blue one he'd frightened the wits out (and without even trying too, such was his genius). The impressively silent boy held out the next book, a thinner one titled 'Max and Marie Go Shopping' and after a quick glance, slotted it home in the thick bookshelf already stuffed full with books, crayons and other such nonsense. 'What was the point of sorting them out so neatly in the first place if all you're going to do is to shove them haphazardly back in? Why couldn't he be mature both inside and out?!'

(Inner Sasuke wanted to cry. The compulsion to set things right was strong, but if he did such a thing, he'd probably be signed up as their new maid of sorts if that were to happen, because he knew for certain that those lazy little cretins would leave the work to him if he demonstrated that the futility of their efforts bothered him.)

As the thought ended, the boy turned with another storybook in hand. He met the self-proclaimed avenger's eyes calmly with quiet moonless ones a heartbeat or two before shifting that gaze back to the novel. Then, (Sasuke would bet something less precious than his future unborn child on this!) the little wretch seemed to smirk with his eyes as he shoved it somewhere in the shelf, not even looking to see where it wound up in.

Possibly annoyed, (maybe) riled up by the cool challenge in those infuriating, **knowing** orbs, (which is what he'll claim later when Naruto chews him out for his stunt) Sasuke peels back his lips in what he called 'a very constipated smile' (under threat), sharingan red already bleeding into his eyes. "What. Are you. Doing?"

Little Boy Soon-to-be-Dead smiles with innocent sarcasm, holding up the last tome in his stack. "Tidying~" (The tome is thick, unnecessarily, almost purposefully thick. Like a dictionary, with two hundred thousand words crammed into six hundred needle thin pages in super fine print, condensed and compact in the form of one unwieldy hardcover. It is balanced precariously in two small hands, held like a stone, like a mallet, like a wrecking ball ready to do damage, and Sasuke can't fathom why the runt would only now decide to force _that_ into a bookshelf ready to explode from the sheer amount of **things** in it an- Oh no. Oh no no no. Oh **HELL** no! He wouldn't! But no, the snicker he had definitely read in those taunting eyes was now crawling across the young delinquent's lips. Black commas spinning in agitation, he moves to intercept just as the devil-in-training swung his weapon.)

* * *

It's the crash that brings them there. (No loud shrieks, because one of them is out cold and the other too damn proud to scream.) And Naruto arrives first with a frilly apron around his waist telling them all to 'Kiss the Cook' with Sakura hot on his heels and the kiddies a close third. Sasuke spares a moment to wonder just how exactly Naruto managed to beat them all considering that he was in the kitchen prior and the latter room was much further away from the designated play space Sakura and her little munchkins were in, but the moment ends when with a shocked cry, the blond heaves the tall shelf off the prone bodies of himself and the redhead.

"Aka!" Naruto cries, dropping to his knees at the foot of Mt Rolling Books. He lifts the tiny, bruised body out of the avalanche with careful hands to cradle against his chest, looking so motherly and concerned that Sasuke would have sneered if only there wasn't a certain leg pushing him harder on the painful book edges. He wants to protest but wisely keeps his mouth shut as his recovering shinobi senses pick up the aura of doom that surrounds the owner of the leg still digging into his back. (Because he recognizes that he's in deep shit now and he's smart enough to want to keep his spine intact.)

"Now, now, now, Sa. Su. Ke. Kun~" He did not just gulp. Period. "What. Do you **think** you are doing?" He will not admit that the voice cooing his name like it was the plague scared him either even though he has every right to be. Scared, that is. And he hasn't even seen the dark silhouette hanging over him like a reaper about to pounce yet.

The next thing he knows is that the pressure on his back releases as a second redhead bursts into the room with a slam loud enough to rattle window panes, chalkboard and closet. (He almost fears that the shelf would come tumbling down again, but thankfully, it doesn't.) Tarimuki strides in with forest green skirts billowing about her, wiry curls pulled back into a low tail. She surveys the damage with a single sweep of narrowed browns then takes the two steps necessary to bring herself to Aka's side. "Naruto, I'll take Akayuu." She holds out her arms, waits patiently for her orange black friend to relinquish his charge. "Bring the brat with you. I'll give him a look over. We'll discuss the repairs later."

"Tari..." There's a teary sniffle and blue haired Aoi wrings the hem of his still overlarge shirt, torn between the desire to check on his brother himself and to obey some previously drilled command to give them some space. "Aka's hurt bad."

Tarimuki shushes him kindly, eyes warming to honey again. ('You can see the worry in them,' Sakura thinks, surprised. 'She really loves him like her own.' She thinks again, because there's fury there too, hot and bubbling for the little boy's sake, tempered down for same.) "Don't worry Aoi, I'll make him better. You know I always do." She spares a moment to motion him over with a nod, spares another to plant a gentle kiss in the middle of his forehead despite the sweaty mess it has become from working and worrying. Then, she's standing again and all affection is gone, switched out in favor of cool contemplation as Naruto hauls the stumbling Uchiha heir to his feet and drags the stubborn boy's arm around his own neck, fighting to hold him better because they're going to have to climb up a flight of stairs in order to reach Tarimuki's medicinal room.

Under Sakura's considering eyes, woman and boys (plus adorable, annoying little twin brother) exit the orphanage's classroom through another door, presumably heading towards the established sick room. Then she's left standing there in the midst of a room distinguishable as a classroom only by the chalkboard that hangs at the front of the room and the bookshelves in front of her. She's confused, disoriented because the scene before her played out in a few minutes though it took six paragraphs to describe, and she's now left alone to deal with the aftermath. (Domestic accidents aren't her specialty. Killing and battles are. When's the last time she ever did a scrap of housework when she could use ninja training as an excuse to duck out from it?)

"Momo-chan!" The soft voice that's been tormenting her with repetitions of 'Ten Little (Bloody) Kunais' earlier pipes up now and Sakura doesn't think to respond until the tiny owner tugs at her hand with books clasped to her (yeah, let's stick with 'her'. It's too much of a headache to think of having another Haku around.) little chest. Her gaze turns to the tot, baffled because there's no one she knows by the name, and Miki answers both questions in her head with another tug. "Momo-chan, clean clean!"

"Huh?" Is Sakura's elegant answer, as the child passes her the books previously held and squats fluidly to pick more off the pile. As a form of demonstration, she slides the paperback onto the shelf then turns to beam up at the pinkette. "Keep!" Miki repeats helpfully a last time before starting on the task at hand. Sakura remains standing, gnawing on her lower lip in indecision a second more before she too kneels with a defeated sigh. She's not sure how she feels about letting the young girl lead in her stead, but drops the line of thought when the chibi flashes her a blinding grin of approval that must have been influenced by Naruto because heaven forbid she learn that from the two Green Beasts of Konoha (a.k.a. Maito Gai and Rock Lee), and manages a feeble grin in return.

(Unknown to her, the missing Kakashi squats in the confinement of the classroom closet. With the cleaning supplies in it cleared out, it just so happens that there's space enough for one lanky, lazy, loafing teacher to squeeze into for a pleasant afternoon reading. So, there he was, enjoying his perverted literature with muffled "hehehe~"s that almost rivals Jiraiya's, when the commotion happened. Being the curious, curious little non-adorable chipmunk he is, he pokes a tiny peephole in the wood and looks upon the scene that is the aggravatingly emo brat activating his sharingan against a little boy who probably hasn't even begun ninja training yet.

Slightly alarmed (but mostly just amused and curious as all fu-erhh fishcakes! Yeah!) he opts to just enjoy the show while the adorably aggravating child swings his mallet at the purposefully overstuffed bookshelf. And a second later, he pats himself on the back for his brilliant decision making skills as he is treated to the hilarious sight of the usually graceful Uchiha tripping over the mop he'd heedlessly dropped in his mindless agitation, turning the latter's elegant leap into a perfectly executed headlong cannonball (the kind you see when Looney Tunes characters jump to their doom) into the bookshelf.

'So, it ends up toppling over anyway. Silly little Uchiha.'

Sniggering, he returns to his page as Naruto and crew bursts in.)

* * *

The girls were almost done sorting the miscellanious items into neat little piles when malice invades the air. It's a compressed explosion of killing intent that punches her in the stomach, hard, and makes her glad she's already kneeling as she doubles over on the floor. It feels like there's iron wrapped tight around her lungs and breath only shudders in and out because inner Sakura is screaming continuously at her to ' **BREATHE!** ' and she has to fight to keep from moaning out in pain. 'Naruto!' She immediately thinks because there's a feeling like a wind gale building that few in Konoha can boast of possessing and the blond upstairs is the only one she knows.

She wants to move, wants to run upstairs and investigate, wants to protect one teammate alongside the other, but she can't. She can't react, can't do anything beyond curling up on the floor in agony even though her inner self is yelling for her to **move** , and... And it's like the chunin exams again, where she's trembling on the floor, paralyzed by fear and looking at the backs of the teammates she hadn't yet begun to think of as 'her boys' beyond just 'Sasuke' and 'Naruto'.

But the ominous haze disappears almost before she finishes the thought, vanishing as abruptly as it came. The void it leaves behind fills in an instant and Sakura finds herself unwittingly drawing in air so hard she goes dizzy. Disoriented, she barely manages to tilt her gaze upwards as there's a sudden bang and Kakashi (who had conveniently disappeared just before Naruto started assigning them chores) bursts out of the closet in the corner. Under normal conditions, she supposes she would have been shocked to see both eyes, one already spinning blood red, in a face gone Uchiha pale from worry, but for now, she can't do nothing more than wheeze as her body settles itself again.

He doesn't spare her a glance, already sprinting out the door and she can barely hear his foot thumping on the wooden stairs above the roar of blood in her ears. But they do clear out, and with that, she finally catches the choked sobs emitting from the tiny body beside her. It is with guilt that she remembers the cheerful little child, even more helpless and vulnerable than she, and shoves herself back into the shinobi's mindset with inner Sakura's helpful berating. Forcefully prying apart clenched teeth with strength of will alone, she bites down on her lower lip, letting pain jolt her nerves back into commission as she pulls herself up to kneeling and soothingly rubs the little girl's back, still not quite able to manage coos or the strength to pull her up yet.

"T-tari m-m-mad," she hears the tot impressively choke out amidst tears and wheezing and has to shove down the urge to ask why Miki thought the chakra belonged to Tarimuki.

* * *

...

* * *

For our mutual clarification, I stopped following the original Naruto timeline after they retrieved Tsunade. In here, Sasuke's deflection attempted ended prematurely because instead of talking, Sakura decked him hard. (She facepalmed afterwards when she realized she now has to carry his fainted, heavy ass to someone more responsible than Kakashi.)

Jiraiya got burdened with an additional emo for half a year before the two of them decided they couldn't stand each other anymore and Sasuke begged to return to Kakashi's amused, sadistic arms. (He got sick of being used as kunoichi bathhouse bait by Jiraiya. Particularly because Naruto did nothing to stop it and loved his misery.)

So our story here starts roughly 6 months after Tsunade rejoins Konoha and Naruto decides to bring his old team together for this fun little side trip before he leaves for an extended period of time. :D (They are chunin cause why not. B3)

Also, I don't support SasuxSaku. Hate it. Shred it. Got none of that here. They're all just gonna be the bestest, most bonded bunch of ninnies around. Yay~


	3. Almost There!

Title: Almost There!

So, I have a secret. That is... I forgot this silly little detail that you had to actually write in order to have something to post. Silly right? Hahaha~ What does remind me is this niggling sense of guilt when I see an alert in my email inbox going "Hey dipshit! People are still reading this!" which does not go away until something new pops out. So there you have it. Don't favorite, alert or review please, so I don't feel guilty about forgetting to write. Especially don't favorite me as a writer, because the things that does to my heart is unbearable!

Enjoy!

^w^

* * *

...

* * *

'One step, two steps, three steps, four...' Kakashi didn't bother shutting down the mental step clicker he'd developed over the course of his career. (Caution is important. Even if you managed to catch yourself after tripping on a missed step, that's a two second advantage you've given the enemy.) His heart is pounding and there's a screaming in the back of his mind that things are wrong. A dozen different scenarios race through his mind, ranging from Naruto finding out, to Naruto finding out, to Naruto finding out, and all of them ended with his ass in the sling.

(The chakra storm was big, that signaled an emotional outburst from the resident Jinchuriki. An enraged Naruto is one that acts on instinct, one which unpredictably pulls out attack after attack in a never ending barrage designed to wear down and eventually overwhelm. That the storm died down relatively quickly (in the span of five 'Icha-Icha's) pointed to the boy likely being restrained, but whom by? If the emo was normal, he might have done something useful (presuming he didn't rile up the fox further). But injured and likely the source of ire, that shot down his effectiveness. It could be the redhead. (Couldn't sense her chakra. He'd like to write it off as her being a mere civilian, but experience again cautions she could just be hiding hers.) But he can't say for sure because the woman is an anomaly, not just in terms of hairstyle.

It was most likely the kids. Their fear could trigger Naruto's fear, could make him stop. But that was assuming it didn't rile him up further. (Kakashi knows the latter isn't very likely, because Naruto is someone who prioritizes his precious people first even in the midst of battle. No matter how hard it is, their fear makes him switch tactics, makes him drive the enemy back so he can get them to safety. And that is a trait that Kakashi is awed by as much as he is worried by.) And in his secret heart, the veteran knows which answer he is hoping for.)

By this time, his feet have cleared all twelve steps and he is almost at the end of the long corridor of doors. His target is the one on his right, where the chakra signatures of four people pulses against his flung out senses and he bursts in like a maniac with both eyes uncovered and one spinning bloody red.

There is no coherent verbal response at his dramatic entry ('Gai would be proud' is a thought that fills him with self-loathing so he shoves it down to be buried with the other nightmares) and Kakashi was a little annoyed to realize that out of the four still conscious in the room, only the blue haired twin squealed, gaping at the lanky figure with wild eyes caught between fight-or-flight. His adorable emo student snorted at the impact, face scrunched in a way that suggested mid-sneeze for a split second. In fact, there was something almost like relief in the dark eyes watching him, refusing to acknowledge the brilliant blue still glaring at him from across the room. **His** other adorable student (still his no matter what Jiraiya thinks dammit!) stood beside the redhead twin's bed, attempting to melt the very bones beneath duckbutt's skin even though his hand never stopped rubbing soothing circles around the blue chibi's back. For that matter, the older redhead just continued to measure out medicines at the corner, as if there had been no dramatic entry just mere milliseconds earlier. Not even pausing to at least glare at Kakashi for the intrusion.

Inwardly perturbed, the slacker managed a false grin wide enough to justify closing both eyes and rubbed the back of his silver bush with a subtly shaking hand. "Maa maa," he said, and again for good measure even though all that got him was two eye ticks from his students and a hiccup from the conscious chibi. "Naruto, you might want to check on the little one downstairs, she seemed to be having difficultly breathing last I checked."

"Miki did-" The blond choked out, expression twisted into worry now and with a last, firm pat on Aoi's back, barreled past Kakashi out of the room. At his departure, the caretaker sighed and finally turned to acknowledge Kakashi with a tired scowl and a bowl of herbs. "Rub this on your idiot will you?" Her voice was still smooth, throatier due to annoyance. Since it was obvious that there was no way he could skip out without being entirely kicked out of the house, Kakashi accepted the bowl and prepared to make both himself and his already scowling emo buttface of a student very unhappy.

(While arguing with the rather petulant brat that he needed to check if Sakura did damage his ribs or not while stepping on him (and avoiding having to answer how he knew all that in the first place), Kakashi's mind wandered to the room across theirs, because even while distracted by the four chakra signatures earlier, he had noticed two more on his left. Two more mysteries that this tiny orphanage had to offer in terms of inhabitants. Having established how much of a curious, curious little non-adorable chipmunk he is, one can only imagine how his soul could withstand the tedium of his current activity while his instincts and shinobi experience screamed for him to uncover all the secrets of this household.)

* * *

"Sakura-chan!" Startled to hear no ungraceful pounding of feet before the blond chunin ambushed them, Sakura held back an unhappy squeal to glare up at Naruto while the chibi lying on her thighs protested weakly at the jolt of her pillow. Her hands are no longer covered in green, but with his sharp nose, Naruto could still taste the lingering sensation of medical ninjutsu in the air and his gaze turns kind, grateful even as he looks down upon the girls. (Sakura would like to put a disclaimer here that she did not blush. Period. That soft look just caught her unaware after half a year without seeing the exuberant boy!)

Not noticing any hitch in his teammate's breathing, Naruto squats so he can place a hand over the little girl's ruffled forehead and sighs in relief as the big eyes blink open tiredly. "Nar-nii..." The child lisps, and Sakura's heart almost stops beating as the boy leans closer and reaches out to cradle the the little one to his chest much like he had done with (what was his name...) Aka(?) earlier.

(There's nothing inherently wrong with the gesture, only that this time he was now completely evading Sakura's personal space bubble and they were so unusually close that she's uncomfortably aware of their genders and all the times he'd ever made a love declaration previously. But this was her brother-in-arms, brother in every way except in blood. And so in that split second, she made the choice to relax, having firmly relegated Naruto to the bro-zone, where he would be joining Sasuke for the rest of their natural lives.)

The tiny sweetheart yawned (clearly requiring more rest to recover after her ordeal) and burrowed her nose against Naruto's chest, tucking a thumb into her mouth as she dozed off comfortably. On his end, the blond nuzzled his nose against her soft hair in a way reminiscent of a dog, as if the girl's scent told him her condition and soothed any lingering concerns over her health. "Thank you for helping Miki." He murmured, not wanting to wake the girl and Sakura couldn't resist the tired, teasing grin. "Just doing what I trained to do under Lady Tsunade." She tilted her head at the snoozing child, no taller than their hips, but already large enough that her teammate would have a bit of difficultly carrying her up the stairs. "Are you sure you're not a father at thirteen?"

Ignoring his spluttering at the very notion, she continued while standing and testing out her legs. "You just seemed so concerned. Enough to turn against Sasuke." (Even though that didn't take much, she had to acknowledge.) Grinning at his light blush and the growing crease between the golden brows, Sakura turned to walk out of the classroom with a parting shot. "Go on Daddy-to. ("Daddy-to?!" The boy spluttered behind her again. This was quickly becoming the funniest thing she'd ever seen him do!) You need to put your kid to bed~"

She was barely resisting the urge to chortle as she held the classroom door open for Naruto and his precious burden to walk past, and the boy's mock glare at her almost undid her. However, her self-control pulled her through and let her troop up the stairs behind the duo without being left behind. (It was times like this when she envied Inner Sakura, because her mental manifestation had no problems with hysterical giggles any time.) Together, they traced the steps to the end of the corridor, where Sakura's chakra sensors picked out five signatures to her right (three familiar, two foreign) and two to the left. Just as she was about to question why something felt off, Naruto shifted his burden and knocked lightly on the wooden slab to the left.

There was a gentle "come in please!" by a distinctly female voice and Sakura obligingly nudged her teammate out of the way to comply. The room that met her eyes had pleasant peach walls and two beds stacked with pillows in light shades of blue. On one of these beds laid a girl, who appeared seven by Sakura's quick judgement. With her bed by the window, a pleasant orange light poured over her dark head, propped against the pillows on her bed. She smiled serenely at the newcomers, seated against the headboard with a blanket tucked around her waist and her hands now setting down the embroidery she had been doing before being interrupted. "Naru-nii, you're here again," she greeted sweetly, joy reflecting on her pale face and in her sparkling blue purple eyes.

"As promised," he gave her a conspiratorial wink to make her giggle and strode in to set the slumbering Miki on the unoccupied bed with a greeting for the other occupant of the room.

This one appeared roughly of similar age to the new girl, (maybe older) with longish brown locks and wary eyes of same, that surveyed Sakura with a distrust she couldn't understand, considering how open the rest of the children had been thus far. He wore spectacles like Udon, ones which he now pushed further up the bridge of his nose with a finger before marking his place. 'They'd interrupted his reading as well,' the pinkette noted, seeing him seated in a wooden chair pulled up against the unnamed girl's bedside, book resting casually on his lap.

After tucking in the little girl, he smiled in answer to the unasked question in the duo's eyes, shaking his head to indicate a later reply (and Sakura wanted to stomp her feet at the feeling of being left out. But she refrained physically, letting Inner Sakura do the grumbling for her.) "Tenzo, Utaki, this is my teammate, Sakura. Sakura-chan, Tenzo and Utaki." Naruto pointed them out in turn and he nodded stiffly, she smiled in greeting, so Sakura responded with a smile and a wider smile respectively.

"I'll check on you both later. Gotta make sure we still have dinner to look forward to." The blond allowed himself an inward snicker at his teammate's unusual stiffness. "With Tari gone, I'll need Sakura as a stand-in." He placed a firm hand on her shoulder, turning around to guide her out and to the kitchen. They exited to Utaki's quiet "see you~" and delicate coughing. (Though not before Sakura's green eyes catch sight of the corner of a paper tag, the type specifically used in relation to seals. She's not fast enough to make out what is the tag's inscribed purpose and that only fuels her curiosity as she is bustled away.)

* * *

"What happened up there?" Sakura's curiosity is insatiable now that she knows everyone is safe. Naruto holds in his groan as he chops up carrots and prays that his ingredients aren't already too contaminated to be used. He's already lucky enough as it is that before rushing off to check up on the commotion earlier, Tari had the foresight to switch the stove off and to cover what she could with other dishes and bowls. The miso soup of the night is done (another small mercy) and had been set to simmer, so he just needs to consider an alternative that wouldn't take him as much time as the original menu and well... Sakura's constant questioning isn't exactly productive in that aspect. If only she'd move her hands as fast as she moves her mouth...

"Can't we save this for later?" He begs as he scoops the neat orange circles into a plate with the cherry tomatoes and long beans. He can keep his original plan of using them in his salad. Twirling behind Sakura to check on the rice cooker, he frowns down at the small pot, not big enough to feed the monstrous appetites of his agitated team (that they all tend to put away an increased amount after battles and missions was a discovery that amused him to no end initially. Even petite Sakura could work her way down a second bowl of ramen.) on top of the little ones. They were all growing boys and girls and needed their nutrition! Chewing on his lower lip, Naruto finally recalled that clay pot he'd stashed away one day and messed up the cupboards till he unearthed it with a foxy grin. Clay pot rice coming up!

As he made the preparations, preoccupied to the point where Sakura's steady green gaze went unnoticed by him, the girl stopped slicing cabbage and sighed down at the mess on her board. Naruto was more skilled at cooking than she was. How?! When did that happen?! It was a blow to the feminine pride she never thought she possessed, on account of having turned up her nose at household chores for years. She pulled out a strand, glaring at the thick body and wondering wistfully if she exposed the thing to Sasuke's patented, mouthful of a glare, it'd miraculously shrink to an appropriate width. Why had Naruto assigned cabbage shredding to her anyway? It was too high a hurdle for someone like her apparently. Moreover, she was still curious about the chakra backlash, how and who had stopped the impulsive blond.

With Inner Sakura growling in her mind, the girl pouted as she returned to that single, monotonous, mind-numbingly boring task. While Naruto darted this way and that, chopping things, preparing others and frying something that smelled gorgeous. (She had to check her mouth for drool, mortified by the very thought that Naruto could cook something that could smell and (probably) taste good, whereas she could barely get her eggs to look right. And he was multi-tasking for crying out loud! In the kitchen! Creating dinner for a table of ten!) Inwardly mulling over her broken pride, she missed Naruto's request for plates, and ignored his alarm as he juggled utensils and stove heated pan.

* * *

Tarimuki stared tenderly down at her young ones, watching Aoi's tear stained face smooth out for the first time since the accident while he napped beside his brother. She checked his pulse, relieved as it beat loud and clear beneath her hand. The herbal paste should be working well. Physically, the little boy had multiple bruises on his tiny frame, no doubt inflicted by the falling books, but mentally... The hand that laid gently on the bedspread beside the two prone bodies curled into a tight fist. There was no knowing what the spoilt brat had done inside her poor child's mind and if she didn't know what was done, she couldn't fix it. The honey browns turn hard, seeming to gleam in the dying light of the day.

Akayuu was only a little boy, tall for his age but not even six. He (along with every other child under her roof) had only Naruto's biweekly visits to get proper academy style training and practiced on their own the rest of the time because she was unable to tutor them. (She ignored the nails that dug into her skin, too caught up in her impotent rage to care.) Out of the three younger ones, Akayuu had been the most eager and hardworking. Quieter though he was in comparison to his twin, the boy could also boost being more sensitive, more sensible. He'd certainly helped her out many times, keeping order and studying his books without complaint. Against such a darling, the Uchiha brat had dared to use his Clan's bloodline jutsu...

Just the thought of it made her blood boil anew.

She couldn't even risk glancing over at the raven, couldn't bring herself to treat him with her herbs and salves because he was the cause of her baby's suffering in the first place. Raising a hand, she studied the bloody crescent dents in her palm idly. (Truth be told, if she had to apply her mixture over him herself, she wasn't sure she wouldn't have killed him instead.) The droplets stood out stark red against her skin, and she closed her fist again.

 _'I will kill again to protect them.'_

There's the sound of a throat clearing and she looks up, watching carefully the ridiculous silver haired man seated across the room at Duckbutt's bedside. Silence dangled between them as he flipped his page (still attempting to read even with no light source nearby and the daylight almost gone) and continued scanning. "That's a painful looking wound you have there _sen~sei_." He drags out the word, clearly hinting at something. (A challenge perhaps?) "You should get it cleaned up."

Tarimuki smiled, (practiced, not entirely pleasant, with a warning beneath the deceptively benign expression). "Yes, I should. Thank you for the suggestion, _sen~sei_." She drawls the last word as well. Challenge to challenge. Standing from her chair with silky ease, she spares a last look at the sleeping twins and turns to her cabinet for a cloth. The wound was superficial already. Wiping the red off would reveal no more dents, but she wraps the hand lightly regardless, not wanting to reveal too much in such a short span of time. " _Your student_. How does he fare?"

Kakashi catches the almost sneer in her words, would feel bad if he was an ordinary civilian teacher who had never been exposed so much to death and injuries to the point where he was almost desensitized, but as it were, he merely smiles a crooked smile in turn. "Maa, he'll be fine." He's been hit before by Sharingans, his mastery and use of his own also taught him a fair bit more than he would have ever cared to know, so he knows that the possibility of the little boy suffering severe mental trauma is small. He can expect feelings of disorientation tomorrow on top of his multiple, colorful bruises that will make movement painful, but he will recover completely in time.

In an attempt to make peace, he lets this tidbit of information drop as he stands (less gracefully, but graceful nonetheless) and tucks the little orange book away. His nose (sensitized by the amount of time he spent with his dog summons) is telling him that dinner will be on the table soon and it is not one he intends to miss out on.

* * *

Kakashi coincidentally waltzes in just as she sets the last plate down. Eyeing him with suspicion, Sakura huffs as he settles easily (shamelessly) on the tatami mat, not at all bothering to hide his avid interest in the food. The table has been arranged for three, and each placement holds a bowl of rice, a plate of hamburg steak, another bowl of cheerful salad, and miso soup. She'd been confused when Naruto had given such instructions, but was unable to get any answers out of him before he left with two other clones in tow. (They all looked ridiculous. Each with a tray to a hand.)

Sakura settles down herself after pouring tea and refrains from overtly staring as the man thumbs through his erotica. She was sure this was another distraction and despite their previous failure, she hasn't given up on wanting to see the face behind the mask! Holding the cup up carefully, she sips at the liquid, monitoring him over the plastic rim all the while.

There! He was finally picking up his chopsticks!

He gave thanks for the food!

He speared a piece of meat!

On the edge of her seat, Sakura felt herself practically exploding with nervous energy as the juicy meat raised towards the mouth under the mask. ' _Almost..._ '

 **Bam!** Crap. Reacting instinctively to the loud sound, Sakura's eyes flickered away momentarily to identify the source and in that split second window, the bite disappeared into Kakashi's waiting mouth. ' _Nooo...!_ ' Inner Sakura wailed in agony and although Sakura wanted to follow as well, an eye twitch was all she could display.

'But it's alright! It's only his first bite after all! There're a lot more opportunities where that came from.'

She would soon curse her naivety.

For some unfathomable reason, a cosmic coincidence always occurred in the form of another loud thud whenever Kakashi was about to take another bite. If she'd been more superstitious, she'd have thought that even the gods were denying her her goal, to see the full face of one Kakashi Hatake. As it were, she could only grumble and growl as each time, Kakashi moved to eat, the sound distracted her (she was conditioned to eliminate threats before she could rest!) and she missed it! She would like to personally investigate and silence the source of the distracting sounds permanently, but feared that the moment she left, the wily shinobi would just clean his plate and vanish.

At the last bite, (Inner Sakura was _this close_ to foaming at the mouth, staring so hard at the man opposite them that her eyes were practically bulging out Looney Tunes style) she watched with baited breath as the salad bobbed gently towards their final destination. Resolutely, she told herself 'I will not look away!' like the last thirteen times. And she might have succeeded too, if the last thud hadn't brought with it the appearance of a disheveled, heavy-lidded Sasuke in the arms of a frustrated Naruto clone. Said clone decided that Sasuke the ass was too much to handle and dumped him unceremoniously on the ground with a cloudy poof that obscured her vision anyway and it cleared only to reveal her sensei leaning back against the wall with the satisfied expression of one who has had a good meal.

(Sasuke doesn't understand why Sakura almost scalded herself faceplanting on the table while mentally sobbing at the cruel joke that was Kakashi's ability to inhale his food like Naruto did. What he does understand is the sadistic evil glint in her eyes promising a bloody vengeance on him and their currently absent blond teammate and he has to restrain the urge to cry because not only was he somehow in trouble again, everything hurt, and he didn't even get a tomato to console his stomach with. Damn that blond...)

* * *

Meantime, Naruto and his clones trooped towards the two rooms at the end once more. One disappearing into the sick room and the other kindly waiting outside while the real Naruto entered Utaki and Miki's room. He slipped the trays he carried first to Tenzo and Utaki, then headed outside to retrieve the last tray for the still sleeping Miki. Behind him, his clone shut the door gently before moving to the opposite room to complete the second part of his mission.

The trio shared looks and smiles, two of them quietly giving thanks for the meal while Naruto gently shook awake little Miki. They had a pleasant conversation and short discussion over the events of before while Naruto patiently spooned bites into the sleepy girl's mouth. The soothing atmosphere they shared while dining under the glow of the candlelight contrasted so drastically with the brewing commotion next door that it was a good thing they had those seals on the wall.

In the sick room, the clone handed off both trays to Tarimuki with a soft grin of reassurance. Then, he began his task of rousing blue haired Aoi and persuading him to eat. It was then that the second clone entered, face scrunched into an expression that aimed for grim but fell more towards comically disgruntled instead. His first task was simple, pleasant even. The second, a chore, because he was to drag that lazy, no good, overcompensating, emo bastard out of bed and down the stairs for dinner. Goody.

Initially, he thought it'd be easy. He'd just wake the boy up and escort him down. No big deal right? But that was shattered because the broody twit refused to wake. Naturally, Naruto was tempted to let the bastard starve, but the boy did require food to heal. (Besides, his already 'friendly' attitude always went to shit when he was hungry. Uzumaki had no desire to deal with Uchiha PMS early in the morning, no sirree.) So, compelled by his unfortunate logical reasoning, the clone hauled his teammate into his arms, bedsheet and all before attempting to troop out the room and down the stairs as quick as possible before humiliation killed him. But Thump #1 sounded because the bastard refused to be moved even in sleep and clung so tightly to the blankets that Naruto dropped the boy on the floor by complete accident. (Much to the amusement of his viewers.)

That finally knocked the bastard awake, and as he glared around sleepily still clutching the cream blanket, Naruto decided to drag him around with it instead. But because a semi-awake Uchiha was one that allowed no perceived weaknesses and released the blankets the moment he felt a strong pressure, Naruto's body impacting against the floor created Thump #2. At least he was in the corridor now.

"Bas-erh-Bugger, wake up and go eat already!" The clone complained once upright, stamping a foot in emphasis. His response was a yawn and one darker, still semi-awake glare. (What did Tari put in her mix? Sasuke would usually be up the moment someone entered the room, or at the very most, awake the moment he was touched. He was nowhere near this troublesome!) Irritated now, genuinely concerned that the food would get cold before he got the almighty emo one seated, Naruto tugged him out the door by the collar, so that the boy's flailing legs and excessive wriggling created a successive round of thumps all the way to the stairs.

There was the kicker.

Literally, although not truly intentionally.

Naruto was about to haul the other boy (more carefully) down the stairs when a couple of things happened:

First, the completely disheveled Sasuke was starting to fight off the side effect of the herbs and wake up, allowing him more control of his strength.

Second, Naruto was in a greater hurry now, also fearing that the boy's strikes could end him and send him back to the real Naruto.

Third, they decided the top of the stairs was a great place for a quick game of Tug-O-War with Sasuke's arm.

As Sasuke started on his short tumble down the stairs, due to an accidental kick from Naruto, one should now understand why people only do certain things in certain places, lest someone gets hurt.

The good part was that while he laid dazed at the landing, Naruto was able to catch the stubborn git up with chakra enhanced strength and clear the last steps with more thumps. On reaching the kitchen (and _accidentally_ smacking Sasuke's face against the door) he dropped the body before a pair of startled green eyes and thankfully poofed away.

(The memories returned to the real Naruto just as Miki finished half her plate and he had to fight to keep his arm from shaking with both suppressed laughter, pain and apprehension while readying the next spoonful.)

* * *

...

* * *

Thank you _johanne asherei_ for the heart attack that pumped out 90% of this chapter in one sitting! I would like to say **you rock** but I'm not sure if I should be encouraging people to give others heart attacks. It doesn't seem morally correct...

Wise cracks aside, to everyone who like this, thank you for your support! I'd say I'm sorry for all the long delays, but I did warn you... :P


	4. Noes!

Title: Noes!

Some of you seem to think that it's a joke. That I wasn't kidding about the heart attacks.

I totally am! xD

But seriously... Who does that?! Who adds a crappy writer like me to their favourite author list?! Imma thank you, but Imma tell you to go clear it of junk (specifically me) as well. Seriously... How do I respond to this...

On another note. Even with the sudden support that leaves my head spinning. I can't cough stuff out immediately too okay?! My long pauses inbetween also give the story time to simmer in the back of my mind, so that the next time I'm inspired, everything flows properly and hopefully, smoothly out onto electronic paper! So seriously... Gah! (ItsalieImjustalazynogoodpieceofshitsorryguys)

I was having exams too and... Gah!

THANK YOU PEOPLE!

That is all.

Go, enjoy or something. Stop reading this, sheesh... ==

* * *

...

* * *

When Sasuke walks into the kitchen (on his own!) that morning, he is greeted by the sight of his team (minus one) already ringed around the low table. Today's breakfast: Natto and fried egg on rice accompanied by last night's miso soup and an apple. Since Naruto had been the genius behind last night's dinner, (and how had he not realized that the dobe could cook when he'd traveled with said dobe and a super pervert for half a year?! The shame!) Sasuke wrote off his absence for same and lowered himself gingerly on the tatami mat, still feeling bruises from his fuzzy adventures the night before.

(He'd woken alone in a room with the bed beside his empty and unmade. Rightly guessing it to be his missing teammate's on account of the orange blankets, he'd scoffed, tidied up and left with the vague confusion of one who had finally, completely slept off the drugs in his system. When he limped down the stairs, relying more on his nose than any sense of directionality to guide him to the kitchen, he trod with trepidation, vaguely recalling the new threat on his life made by his pink teammate.

What he'd been prepared for, was for something. Anything, like a kunai to the face, or a well-timed utensil. Just, not for Sakura's face to morph into one of unholy, malicious glee, like she'd gotten splendid blackmail material on him. That was far more unnerving an experience than he'd ever care to admit to. Ever.

Incidentally, what he doesn't remember is fainting at the dining table after only his third mouthful last night. Hence, his pride is spared the grievous blow that would have come from also knowing that aside from the pathetic display of succumbing to his 'manly' wounds, Sakura had been privy to the sight of his being carted up the stairs by ambulance Hatake. Not to mention how he _just so happened_ to be wearing a bowlful of rice as well. But hey, there were rice based beauty masks out there, and his just used mirin instead of honey and milk. Close enough!)

Cautious, (because did Sakura spike his meal? What in the name of juicy little tomatoes did she have planned to be so gleeful about?! N-not that it was driving him crazy, o-or anything like that...) he reaches for his chopsticks, ignores the raw malice jabbing into him from across the table and just... Stares at the bowl.

(Was it just in his imagination that the eggs looked rather... Evil...? That patch over there... It looks like... A smile, with a hint of teeth. A sharp jagged tooth at the corner like... Like a Kisame who'd lost the rest of his teeth save for the one jutting out! The smile itself... No. More of a smirk really, exactly like the one he swore that blasted red brat gave him before setting in motion the sequence of events that resulted in his current predicament. But truly, that was a smirk right there! Upturned lips pulled wide to the point of being thin, high enough in one corner that the cheek meat curled inwards and formed a line. And those there... They were eyes, silted and narrow at the ends, with rough eyebrow shapes formed from creases in the egg, slender and pointed and sharp. Classic villain style in cartoons.)

After a good five minutes of silent staring, he finally plucks up the nerve to cut into the egg/ villain. Alas, he had just enough time to make the smallest cut in the crease at the top of the egg (just enough to give the face a more prominently cocked and mocking eyebrow) before a fast hand firmly smacked the top of his, making him drop the utensil in genuine shock. Scowling now, Sasuke lets his hand retreat as he glares upwards to meet the scolding blues of his blond teammate, who scowled back at him with equal heat, not at all thwarted in his attempt at intimidation by the little girl cradled at his hip.

"Sasuke Uchiha!" (The tone is so similar to a vaguely nostalgic, female one that the boy in question flinches) "Where are your table manners? You're supposed to wait for everyone to gather before starting!" There's no finger waggling in front of his face, but it might as well be there for all the admonition he can hear in the voice.

He says nothing in retort and Naruto ignores the faux whispers of "Daddy-to~" from the currently immature pinky as he sets Miki down for breakfast. The tiny girl giggles up at him as she plops her tiny butt into the seat, so he has to pretend that he isn't bothered by Sakura's snickers and Duckbutt's bastardly, judgementally scowl as he beams at the little sweetheart and resists the urge to coo at her. Tarimuki enters a minute later, escorting the still sleepy Aoi by his tiny hand and guides the boy to his place before taking her own seat next to him.

And even though he might think himself sneaky, Kakashi is anything but as he stares at the other teacher over the top of his novel. In his defense, the stare is not so much creepy and perverted as it is curious and perhaps calculative, and that is ultimately what saves him from the latter's full wrath. Instead, the woman aims a smile faker than Tsunade's face at him, lips pulled testily into a teethy grin and vein lightly pulsing beneath luscious locks.

Fortunately as well, she'd already decided that the word of the day was ignorance and patience. Never mind that that was actually two words instead. So without word, question or equally testy comment, Tarimuki returns her attention to Aoi, cooing food into the embarrassed mouth despite his protests. ("Nooo! I can eat by myself! I'm not a baby anymore!" "But Aoi-kun, you'll always be my baby!" "Tariii!") When it came to her kids, she always had her priorities right.

* * *

"Alright troops!" Naruto observes his men (kids and fellow teammates actually) as they lined up before him (three heads looking up, two looking semi-straight/semi-down, curse his height! And theirs too for good measure!). His kids are as always, although Aoi is still obviously bothered by Aka's disappearance, he's moderately placated by the presence of their new arrival, Tenzo, who pushes his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose with a finger and lets Aoi hold his hand without minding the mysterious wetness of it. Naruto beams at the boy, who smiles back rather grimly.

"Today, we clean the dishes!" (The two chibis cheer.) "Finish clearing the toys!" (More cheering.) "And finally..." He flashes a dramatic smile, throwing his hands up dramatically. "Keep the books!" (Miki alone remains steadfast in her sweet enthusiasm, the darling~) Saying so, a tan finger immediately arrows Sasuke's nose, ignoring his tiny huff of offense as the digit stops inches before touching and the boy narrowly escaped without flinching. (Haha. He'd learnt something right at least.) "You get your old job. Do it right this time."

Ignoring the thinly veiled threat, Duckbutt huffs and strides over to the opened door. "Tenzo, look after him please." The boy in question nods and gingerly separates his hand from Aoi's, and all non-caretaking shinobi stifled shudders at the somewhat visible line of sticky stretching from one child's hand to the other. Naruto though, just catches Sasuke's eye in two tries and conveys exactly how dead he'll be if he lands Tenzo in bed just like Aka before him. (The bastard had the nerve to scoff. The nerve! Oh he was sooooo getting his ass handed to him, the moment they stepped foot on a training ground!)

"Team Sakura, you get the toys again." The sinister smile turns entirely bright and loving as it shifts to shine down on little Miki (and the pinkette beside her barely resists the urge to flinch in the face of such sincere paternal love.) "Make sure they're all shiny and bright again alright?" His sweet girl bounces up on her toes with the force of her cheery "okay!" before she drags his teammate away by hand to the scattered mess they left behind yesterday, leaving him alone with Aoi. Aoi, who is smiling almost shyly at him, nothing like his usual boisterous self.

(Although the one more likely to get into trouble between the two, he's surprisingly shy without Aka around. That's because Aoi regards himself as the quiet twin's protector, without whom there was little need to put on the act of being brave. Naruto knows this willingness to expose is only because the boy is still young and cute. With age and without proper care and guidance, Aoi might very well be on the way to becoming a second Naruto, or worse... A Kakashi. Loud and brash and stubborn to the end even when it was alright to drop the act; to the point where the line between mask and self disintegrates and the individual he knows now as Aoi becomes lost.

The thought is worrying but he shoves it down the best he could because Aoi is **not** alone, not the way he is, and the people who surrounds him are kind and loving and will guide him to become the person he is meant to be. It is for his and all the other children's sake that this journey must be made and it is not the first time Naruto had to remind himself of that.)

So resisting the quiet urge to clench his fist as if to capture hope and faith, Naruto smiles down on the little boy as he holds out a smooth palm. "Can you help me wash the dishes now Aoi?" The smile firms as a still chubby hand lands in his and he encases it in the memory reminders of duty. "Let's go check on Aka-kun and Tari-sensei after this alright?"

His comment is rewarded with a day bright smile that warms his heart.

* * *

For some, Aoi's unnatural quietness might lead them to believe that the little boy would actually behave and get the dishes washed and dried properly.

Naruto would like to inform them that yes, they were absolutely right about that. But since it was unnatural for the little one, he would then go on to comment that it would definitely be the duty of the caretaker to nudge the little chipmunk right out of his slump. Hence, that is the excuse he gives for the soapy mess Tarimuki finds them both in when she pops down with three empty plates in hand.

She's standing in the doorway, leaning against the sturdy wooden frame with dishes balanced in a hand and smiling at the sight before her. The view is of a fairly average kitchen, a bit larger than average, which is spick span clean except for the area around the sink. There, soap spuds reign supreme, filling every nook and cranny between a stack of poorly scrubbed dishes and the waters of some drowning ones. They wink at her from her child's wet blue hair in the sunlight seeping in through the window, on his chubby cheeks and the wet spot of identical height on Naruto's shirt and the previously cleaner floor.

But unlike other women in her position, there is no room for annoyance or indigence in her heart, not with the warmth that floods all her chambers from the sweet laughter and screams of little Aoi and the clear bell chuckles of his orange clad brother. Besides, what use is a kitchen without laughter and warmth? So instead of yelling, reprimanding or scolding, Tarimuki sweeps in soundlessly, swipes two fingers in soap and adds very nice bubble dots on the end of each boy's nose while they were still too busy laughing to respond. "Are you boys trying to wash dishes or take a bath?"

"Tari-sensei! Nar-nii started it!" Aoi points amidst chortles so strong the words are barely discernible. He's got the worst of it, dripping at the sides where Naruto attacked to elicit giggles earlier and wet splattered from one of his failed payback attempts. The only difference throwing him in an actual tub would make at this point is that his legs would be more evenly soaked. "Are you sure you're not using water jutsus in our kitchen?" She tweaks the wet nose cheekily, laughing as the bubbles burst against their skin. "Aka-kun will be so jealous to know that you're playing around now."

That gets his attention, and he brightens, radiant with glee and relief. "Aka is awake now? Can we go see him pweasee Tari-sensei?"

She refrains from cooing at the age-lost lisp, (mainly for the boy's sake) as she holds out a hand for the sponge he wields in his chubby one. "Why don't you and Naru-kun go get dry first? If you get water everywhere, other people might get hurt."

"If Duckbutt gets hurt, then he go away and not hurt Aka anymore!" The declaration is cute, and both had to refrain from chuckling (or agreeing. There _was_ a reason why he was dragged along as well, though it was hard to remember sometimes.)

"But you don't want Miki-chan or Tenzo-kun to get hurt do you?" Naruto ruffles the blue mop fondly. "Aoi-kun is too nice to hurt them just because he wants to hurt Duckbutt-nii right?"

There's a moment of silence, then a solemn and regretful nod. "I never want to hurt Mii-chan or Ten-nii or Nar-nii or Tari-sensei." The black orbs were wide, horrified in a way that went to their hearts. He hops down from his stool, hand raising impatiently. "Hurry Nar-nii! Aka is waiting for us!" In response, Naruto wipes excess moisture on his shirt before clasping the proffered hand to lead them up. Tarimuki stays behind, and although unsaid, 'I'll see you later.' lingers between them.

For now though, she rolls up her sleeves.

* * *

To his relief, this one was similar to the previous one in that both were quiet. That was good news.

It was better news that the boy seemed more intent on actually keeping things properly than in anything as foolish as conversing or even (kami forbid) _bonding_. The air between them was charged despite the silence, and he felt it like an explosion tag under the skin. There was still the chance that like the brat from yesterday, this one would only reveal his true colors near the end and bring down more orange rage upon his head.

N-not that that was making him t-twitchy or anything!

...

Damned dobe...

"Would you stop glaring at our books? I do not wish for any of them to burst into flames." Glasses boy pushes his spectacles higher up, ignoring the flinch-that-did-not-happen-because-Uchihas-do-not-flinch-EOD. (And damn, it felt like everything in the house was designed to emasculate his Uchiha dignity and identity. Sasuke was getting paranoid, which was a thankfully, Uchiha trait, although of course, not one for display.)

He whips around, patented Uchiha Glare of Doom Level 1™ already subconsciously rising to fire at the bespectacled runt when vermilion killing intent jabs precisely into the small of his back. The knife sharp edge of it akin to a chakra blade, formed similarly with sheer willpower and bleeding with an ancient rage and loathing that shreds his resolve into paper strips. It's a clear warning, whispering wisps of 'w _atch your back, punk_ ' and ' _hurt him, and you die a thousand deaths from ten thousand torments_ ' that makes him break out in cold sweat. (And when was the last time that happened? Not even the death of all his kinsmen had triggered such a reaction. This was one only caused by nightmares and darkness, lingering regrets and questions and waking up sobbing with a hand at his mouth to hold back the screams that wanted to claw their way out because Uchihas are quiet and silent and dignified and he cannot give up on this, on one of the few things Itachi's blade could never cut.)

"Ah, Tarimuki-sensei. What brings you here?" The majority of it vanishes at the boy's words and he sucks in quiet breath, not quite daring to turn away from the books and shelves that were hiding his disgusting expressions right now. "Nothing much, Tenzo-kun." He can hear the smile, the smirk in the words, "just checking up on you." and he can't tell who the 'you' was actually referring to, though he would like to believe that the springy red head was only an affectionate and powerless teacher and not someone who had enough power to somehow throw him off and put him in such a miserable, pathetic state.

"That's not necessary sensei." Was that an embarrassed tint to the child's voice? "I can handle things just fine, so you should go check in on the rest. I'm sure they can use the help." A throaty chuckle, and the soft ruffle of hair somehow still spitefully loud despite the insistent thudding of his books. "If you say so Tenzo-kun. I'll come back again later, so keep out of trouble alright?" There's an affirmative noise coupled with protest and Sasuke swallows a sudden pang of yearning.

(Even without turning to look at them, even without ignoring their titles, just from their voices and the obvious shades of adoration and loyalty and care, anyone would assume that they were parent and child in all aspects but blood. The thought is something that stings in areas supposed to be protected by his apathetic shield, makes the old memories of motherly love surface, and oh how it strangles.)

There's a poke to his side all of a sudden, and Sasuke tilts his gaze to its source without really meaning to. The tallest runt of the litter is standing there, wearing an expression that can only be described with a group of words such as: concern, hesitation, compassion, annoyance, duty and maybe most importantly and significantly, a type of understanding that only survivors of similar fates could quietly agree to. Silence follows, a tentative moment where a connection fought to form between two individuals who dealt similarly with the loss of their mother with silence, forced apathy and forged purpose. Then Aoi's joyful squeal in response to some thought from Naruto interrupts the potential for manly cliffs, crashing waves and glorious sunsets in their background.

But it's alright, because the picture had been formed in their hearts without their knowing and actual consent. So as the footsteps of the two faded up the stairs, Sasuke and Tenzo turned back to their books and stacks.

"What's your name, brat?"

"Tenzo, Duckbutt-niisan."

* * *

Toys again huh?

Sakura stands with hands on her hips, surveying the almost non-existent mess. What had they been doing again? Right! She'd assumed that Naruto wanted those god awful scribbles off the furniture too and had sentenced the chibis to that while she dealt with the floor, certain that it'd be better for her to handle it then some runts who had high chances of leaving soap and suds over it instead. The boy had decided he was better suited for the table instead, and left the littlest chibi to handle the scribbles. Unsupervised, said chibi took on the role with an adorable enthusiasm and had been scrubbing with a fricking. Eraser. The memory of it made her want to yank at her pink strands the way inner Sakura could as she pleased, but well. At least the floor was clean.

This time though, the little one was getting a personal tutorial.

"Now see here Miki-chan." She held up a cloth, still dry and already resigned to its soapy, friction-filled fate, and patted the little bucket of cheerful bubbles at her side. "To clean that chest," a poke at the innocent furniture, "dip the cloth in first, then wring it okay?" She demonstrated, hefting the grey scrap up for the tiny girl's inspection.

Or at least she was supposed to.

Bit hard to show something to someone whose attention was trained on the sparkling bubbles instead of you.

"Miki!" The little one jumped, eyes moving to hers with a spot of guilt in the tiny black spaces. "Momo-chan?" She twiddles tiny fingers, cheeks filled into an almost pout. Sakura chooses this moment to take a breathe, then attempts her demonstration anew.

"Miki-chan, dip." A tiny slosh. "Raise" Plenty of plinks and plonks as water rolls off and down. "Squeeze." A mini waterfall as slender kunoichi hands practically strangle the cloth. "Wipe." The material dabs against the crayon scribble on the chest, disappearing with a single, aggressive swipe. Sakura unfolds the grey, exposing the smudge of orange, black and white to the child's wide eyes with the sort of smug satisfaction only people who'd waged war against childish art on furniture (and won) would understand. She's proud, head held high and chin out, expecting at any moment, Miki's coos of awe at her strength and efficiency.

Instead, she gets welling tears and sniffles. (Where were her rainbows and spring fields and butterflies and bees? Where was her bonding moment dammit! According to the script, Miki was supposed to have declared her the most talented and awesome kunoichi ever and jumped happily to work cleaning! Instead, she's getting the bad guy treatment!) "Kii-chan! Kii-chan gone!" The words are accompanied with more water works, and the child presses tiny knuckles against her overflowing eyes in obvious distress, hiding away from the horrible truth. (That the cool big Momo-chan had brutally killed off the cute little fox she'd painstakingly drawn for Nar-nii one beautiful afternoon, instead of running wild with Ak-nii and O-nii. Momo-chan had tarnished the memory of warm sunlight, young duty and most importantly, Nar-nii's big white smile as he ruffled her head and praised her budding skill.)

Sakura freezes. There's no better word to describe the way her muscles just locks up and leaves her stranded in a room with a sobbing child and no brilliant plan in mind to begin understanding the problem, let alone fix it. Even Inner Sakura is absolutely quiet, speechless in the face of the nature of this... Attack, that she'd never been trained to handle before.

(Enemy attack? Sure. Ambushes? Bring it on. Strange new jutsu? Duck and cover and observe the hell out of it. Big guy with overwhelming strength? Run the fuck out of there if there are no allies to save nearby. She's completely out of her element in this place, where her enemies come in the form of mop and water, dishes and toys and children meant to be cherished instead of just tolerated.

For the first time in her young life, Sakura regrets not paying attention to the mundane and boring, to the civilian skills she'd gleefully dropped in favor of shinobi survival skills. While not a wrong decision, especially on a team with two high powered, trouble attracting knuckleheads, there's a fair bit she's been missing out on. Things that, she should be handling a lot better than Naruto. It's a thought that grinds on her, bites and gnaws at her ego, because once again, here's an area where one of the boys are beating her at. Another area where she's bested despite book smarts and female instincts that give her a quicker grasp of relationships. Another non-reason to prove her worth on this team. Another way where she remains a burden to her boys.)

There's loud sounds from somewhere far out of the range of Sakura's processing abilities, then feet tip tap their way in. "Miki? What's wrong?" Fire curls swirl as Tarimuki crouches to cuddle the still weeping toddler close. She pats the tiny back, cooing encouragements as the girl hiccups in her attempt to explain, and Sakura just continues to kneel there. She's on her knees, a hand half out and reaching for the dark child already encased by the orphanage teacher, and the thought that strangles her for a moment is 'again, I'm useless. Again, I'm isolated. Again, I'm the odd one out.'

Biting her lip, Sakura scoots back and away while the oldest boy child runs in.

* * *

"Kii-chan..." The child's lower lip wobbled again so Tarimuki petted the tiny back, (literally) cooing at the girl in comfort. She let Miki bury her tiny face into the dark green dress and darken it further. She let Miki wrap her tiny arms around her belly as best she could while the sobs reduced themselves to quiet breaths and motions Tenzo forward with a soft nod. The boy kneels near Miki, still soft hand brushing at the little locks slowly, soothingly.

"Tar-see..." The young voice lisps, muffled slightly by tunic cloth and recovery. "Miki no like Nar-nii's friends..." Tarimuki sighs, resting her nose on the tiny head to calm herself with the sweet baby scent of her. "They mean..." (What she wouldn't give to have them all out of their business as well. The truth of their situation however, was glaring. The kids were growing, in more ways than one, and it just wasn't fair to keep them hidden away in isolation from the rest of their race, particularly since they were so near one of the major hidden villages. Naruto alone wouldn't be able to continue providing food, education and other necessities as he'd been doing so without compromising his own training and other increasing duties as he himself aged up. They needed the support, and frankly, this was the best chance they had for gauging the viability of continued residence there. If only they didn't... If only...) The thought of that, and the love she felt for these little ones clinging to her skirts and scattered around their home... "Miki, I'm sure Momo-chan didn't mean it."

Pressing a kiss to the little forehead, "didn't she clean the floors all by herself yesterday while you and Aoi-kun wiped the tables and chairs?" A pause for the little one to retrieve the memory of. "That was a biggg task wasn't it? And very hard work. But Momo-chan did it all by herself didn't she? And because she did that, now Miki can play with everyone in a clean room today and tomorrow and the tomorrows after." Another pause for the thought to sink in. "Isn't that for your sake Miki?"

The little sweetheart nodded slowly, kneading her hands in Tarimuki's skirt as the thought processed. "But Momo-chan wipe Kii-chan... And Butt-nii (Tarimuki smiles at that, and Tenzo bites his lip to hinder any signs of amusement) hurt A-nii... That mean..." Now Tarimuki rocks back on her heels to sit cross legged on the floor so Miki naturally transfers onto her lap for easier cuddling. "Duckbutt-nii is certainly awkward." Tenzo speaks up now, following along to huddle beside the two. "And he did hurt Aka-kun yesterday, but it might have been an accident see? I'm not hurt today aren't I Miki? Even though I spent some time in there with him?" And he spreads his arms, leaning back for Miki's apprehensive eye examination. She nods as she satisfied herself with his health, and holds out tiny fingers for his slightly bigger ones.

"Miki darling, I think Naru-nii's friends just have trouble adjusting because they are not used to taking care of children." Tarimuki strokes the midnight locks, gently untangling them. "They're all just bigger children, darling."

"But they shinobis!" The child's eyes are wide now, struck by the foreign new thought. Surprise definitely, awestruck maybe.

Tarimuki hums in response, the smoky thrill of it soothing. "Shinobi start young my kit. Very very young. It is the curse of humans, who send their young out to hunt and kill when they are still babies and should be protected at home." She nuzzles the tiny head again, heartened by the tiny giggle. "That's why we are all here to teach you how to protect yourselves and to support each other, so nobody is ever alone and everybody comes home." Tenzo presses nearer into her side, a warm comfort and solid reminder. "So Miki-chan, you need to help Naru-nii's friends too." The girl perks up cutely at the word, smiling now. "Help? Miki can help! Miki good at help!" She gets another affectionate squeeze before Tarimuki continues. "That's right Miki. Can you help them by forgiving their mistakes and teaching them the right things? Naru-nii will never bring people here to hurt you, we can trust him on that. What he wants is to make our family bigger by introducing more friends for Miki to treasure and help, just like how Miki is helping us now. Can you help Naru-nii with that too?"

"Yes!" Miki chirps, all ill forgotten and forgiven in an instant. One could not help but see her as an adorable, loving puppy at this moment. "Miki help! Miki teach Momo-chan and Butt-nii!" She wobbles to her feet with their support and throws tiny arms around them. "Find Momo-chan now!" She beams sunlight on them before bubbling towards the door, intent on starting her search for the disappeared girl. As she leaves, Tarimuki sighs, cuddling Tenzo close for a quick squeeze. "You're a good big brother, Tenzo. Thank you for your help."

He wriggles free of her grasp, face red, spectacles skewed and hair mussed. "I'm only taking care of my family Tari-sensei!" And darts off to resume his work next door. She beams, calling after him. "After you're both done there, help Miki and Sakura-chan finish up here please! It's just the toys left!" The boy provides a noise of confirmation, allowing her to stand up and return to the kitchen to finish cleaning the mess her boys made in there earlier.

* * *

...

* * *

If you're wondering why the heck is this chapter so short, is because my imagination got skwonky on me after the last chapter. :(

But on the bright side, I did manage to update by next week (30/4 - 7/5) as promised! xD

Just so y'all know, I actually planned out my chapters already, so I have a set number of things to cover in each one. Since this one was cut short due to lack of time and lack of imagination, I'll be reupdating this one until I finally covered everything I wanted to before moving on. Until then, y'all know the drill...

Have fun B)

16 Jan 18 update: Happy new year guys!

P.S I'm sorry...?


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